Virtual & In-Person Retreats

Or HaLev offers retreats throughout the year - from one day to seven days. No matter the length, retreat enables us to recenter, regain presence, and reclaim our true selves.

 

The Gift of Retreat

Or HaLev teacher Mira Neshama explains why going on retreat is so vital to ourselves, our practice, and those closest to us.

The Retreat Experience

Why go on retreat?

Retreat is a chance to step out of the business of daily life, with the constant technological distractions and stimuli, and enter into an inner space which grows increasingly quiet and still. Far from being selfish, going on retreat is a gift you give yourself, those close to you, and the entire world.

Retreat enables you to check in with yourself, and connect to the spacious loving awareness that is always available. The structure of retreat provides a depth of connection and awareness that is not possible in other contexts.

The mind is always producing thoughts and feelings. The goal of meditation is not to stop thinking, but rather to increase awareness, and to lessen the tendency to be pulled to and fro by thoughts and feelings like waves in the sea. Through practice we find a stability, vastness and stillness. You are not just the wave - you are the whole ocean.

The gratitude, compassion, belonging, vibrancy, joy and presence found on retreat is then taken back out into the world with you.

In short, retreats wake us up.

 
James Back Prayer.jpg
 

What is the power of a silent meditation retreat?

Excerpt from a moderated panel about the film Seven Days in Silence by Jonathan Perlman.
The film captures Perlman's personal journey on a 7-day Or HaLev Jewish silent meditation retreat.

 

What to expect?

Or HaLev offers a wide variety of retreats, ranging from half-day to week-long, online and in-person. Every retreat includes: 

  • Sitting and walking meditations with guided instructions 

  • Mindful eating practice

  • Chanting 

  • Rich Jewish teachings. 

Many of OHL’s retreats are timed with a particular holiday; enabling you to step more fully into the energy and wisdom of the Jewish calendar and all it has to offer. Our retreats are not only for seasoned meditators - they are for everyone. Our teachers are there to guide, lend support, and answer any questions that arise. 

Testimonials from the documentary "My Seven Days in Silence" by Jonathan Perlman.

 

What is it like?

Hear from participants of Or HaLev's retreats, as they share their transformative experiences.

Upcoming Retreats


Tomchei Hachlama Retreat (Israel)


A 4-day mindfulness meditation retreat designed exclusively for professional therapists providing treatment to war victims
With Danny Cohen & Keren Sheffi

Dec 9-12, 2024
Moa, Arava desert, Israel

Untying the Mind (Israel)


An Urban Meditation Retreat by Or HaLev and The Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies
With Danny Cohen & Keren Sheffi

Dec 5-7, 2024
Pardes Institute, Jerusalem, Israel

Opening the Heart Retreat



Registration is open!


Join our 10th annual West Coast retreat for 7 days of Jewish Mindfulness Practice
With Rav James, Rabbi Dev Noily & Rabbi Genevieve Greinetz

Jan 5-12, 2025
Brandeis-Bardin, CA

Awakening to Joy (Israel)

7 days of Jewish Mindfulness Practice to welcome the month of Adar
With Rav James & Danny Cohen
Feb 23 - March 1, 2025
Registration will open soon!

Sample Daily Schedule

6:00am Wake up bell

6:30 Sit

7:00 Chanting

8:00 Time for personal prayer practice

8:30 BREAKFAST Dining Room

9:30 Sit

10:15 Walk

10:30 Sit

11:15 Walk

11:45 Sit + Q&A

12:30pm LUNCH Dining Room

1:15 Work practice (beginner’s group meetings and instructions)

2:00 Sit

2:45 Walk

3:00 Sit

3:45 Walk or Yoga

4:45 Sit

6:00 DINNER Dining room

7:30 Teaching/Talk

8:30 Walk

8:45 Sit

9:15 Return to rooms or optional practice